NYSE Euronext was impacted by a slump in derivatives trading during the second quarter of this year, contributing to the group's overall pre-tax profit falling by a fifth during the period, in the latest sign of the problems low trading volumes are posing to infrastructure providers.

The transatlantic exchange group, which operates the London-based NYSE Liffe derivatives market, said this morning that revenues from its derivatives franchise fell year-on-year by 15% to $182m during the three months ended on June 30.